Balanced Hormones = Better Training

Understanding your hormones is the first step to managing them for peak performance

What do NCAA and USA national champions Galen Rupp and Adam Goucher have in common with high school girls 5,000m record-holder Emily SIsson? All three have a hormonal imbalance. Specifically, each has a thyroid condition that, left untreated, would make it impossible to achieve top running performances.

Hormonal balance is essential for reaching peak fitness. But that hasn't stopped coaches and athletes from trying to game the hormonal system. From altitude tents that increase EPO to post-run weight routines designed to trigger spurts of testosterone, efforts to elevate levels of specific hormones have become commonplace.

"The body doesn't make performance-enhancing drugs," says Jeffrey Brown, M.D., a nationally renowned endocrinologist who has treated 15 Olympic gold medalists and consults for Nike and USATF. "It makes hormones to keep us normal. The body is so well-tuned that you can't overproduce unless you have a metabolic problem."

Which means that before we start training above timberline, adding power lifts to our post-run routine or drinking potions spiked with plant phytohormones, we should spend a minute becoming familiar with some important human hormones and their effects.

Hormonal imbalance occurs when we have too much or too little of a particular hormone. And any deviation in our body's self-regulated hormonal equilibrium can result in system-wide failure. For example, a woman who runs more than 20 miles per week increases secretion of the hormone prolactin, which begins a cascade of events that can disrupt the menstrual cycle. "As a result," says Brown, "women don't make estrogen. And as a result of that, not only is there infertility, but their bones suffer."

Bottom line: We should exercise caution when considering activities that affect our endocrine system. While increased levels of certain hormones may appear attractive on the surface, hormonal get-rich-quick schemes can prove dangerous to our health.HORMONES THAT AFFECT RUNNING

It would be impossible -- not to mention undesirable -- to adopt a running program that has no effect on hormones. So understanding our hormones and how running affects them can lead to smarter training decisions.

Growth hormone (GH or HGH) leads the pack of hormones prized by athletes. Tom Cotner, a biology Ph.D. and the distance coach for Seattle-based Club Northwest, says, "You can organize your training around growth hormone. It serves as the trigger for adaptive response to training." (See "Maximum Growth Hormone." below)

Cotner and Brown agree that harder training efforts do more to stimulate growth hormone release. "GH is really your body's way of acknowledging the hard work," says Cotner. "The more intense the work you do, the more you produce."

But there's a limit to this production. "The body has safety mechanisms," says Brown. "It will turn growth hormone production off after a certain amount of time." The body also adapts. While a weekend jogger gets a large GH release from a short run, a fit runner might have to go miles and miles to stimulate an equal dose.

Cortisol serves as both an anti-inflammatory and catabolic agent. Anabolic hormones, like GH, promote tissue growth. Catabolic hormones break down protein and fat.

"In healthy males who are not overtraining," says Cotner, "you always see a wave of GH, followed by the uptake of GH, followed by cortisol release hormone." While a normal person uses cortisol to "remodel" about 1 percent of their muscle mass per day, an athlete will increase that process up to 3 to 4 percent with training.

But when athletes overtrain, their bodies can become overwhelmed with cortisol, leading to excessive protein breakdown and sleep disturbances, such as insomnia and night sweats.

Testosterone increases muscle mass and bone density. In elevated levels, it creates larger muscle fibers and decreases recovery time from workouts. Although referred to as "male hormone," it's present in women too (at about one-tenth the level found in men).

Testosterone's effects are a prime target for athletes looking to gain an edge. However, there's no natural way to increase secretion of the hormone. "In fact, if you do too much [hard training], it'll have the opposite effect," says Brown. "If you look at male hormone levels before, during, and after a very stressful run, they go down. The pituitary turns off the stimulation. To turn it back on, you have to recover. And the quicker you recover, the quicker you get male hormone levels back up."

When asked if there isn't some stimulus for temporary testosterone increase -- resistance training, hill sprints, etc. -- Brown says, "No, there isn't. Not ethically or legally. There is no way. Unless you have a tumor."

But Brown has some words to the wise for runners who would go this route: There's no proof that elevated EPO works. "The oxygen that gets to the muscle is actually dissolved oxygen in the plasma," he says. "You go from red blood cell to plasma to tissue. There's a homeostatic mechanism in the body that maintains oxygen levels in the plasma. And plasma is not affected by EPO."

Brown believes the improved performances turned in by athletes on EPO might have a simple explanation: Elite runners tend to be anemic. "Pounding pavement with their feet breaks up red blood cells," he says, "and they lose them. So you bring somebody back to normal [with EPO], and they do remarkably better!"

Endorphins produce the "runner's high" -- a feeling of euphoria associated with prolonged endurance training. Seasoned runners develop increased sensitivity to endorphins, but we also produce less of the hormone. "Each tissue has receptors," says Brown, "and receptor sensitivity goes up so we can get the same response with less stimulation. If we didn't, we'd overly stimulate."

Epinephrine (adrenaline) triggers the fight-or-flight response. It increases heart rate, relaxes airways, contracts blood vessels and stimulates the breakdown of muscle glycogen and fat. It prepares us to do battle. On the negative side, long-term elevation of epinephrine can cause high blood pressure, heart problems and sleep disturbances. Brown suggests psychological stimulation as the best method for increasing epinephrine levels before competition. "The speeches that coaches give before football players take the field are good hormonal therapy," he says. "They actually increase these hormone levels. A rousing coach can win a game!"

Thyroxin (T4) is released from the thyroid gland and then converted to a hormone called T3. As T3, it plays a major role in determining metabolic rate and maintaining muscle, brain, bowel and overall hormonal function. A malfunctioning thyroid can lead to hypothyroidism (under-secretion of T4) or hyperthyroidism (over-secretion of T4).

Training can bring on thyroid dysfunction in runners who have a family history. The stress of running "induces the antibody," causing the body to attack its own thyroid. "It's the actual training, and I don't mean overtraining," says Brown, "that causes the gene to turn on. With either too much or too little thyroid, your muscles don't contract normally. They don't have the power to contract. So sprinters don't run as fast, jumpers don't jump as far, and distance runners' times get slower." Treatment brings runners back to normal without conferring any advantage.

Insulin causes our cells to take up glucose from the bloodstream and store it as glycogen in our muscles and liver. Insulin is also a favorite of drug cheats -- and for good reason. Too much insulin lowers our blood sugar, and the pituitary gland's response to low blood sugar is a burst of growth hormone. "It's a very risky business," says Brown. "You can die doing that."

Glucagon counteracts too much insulin by stimulating the liver to release glucose. Because glucagon is secreted when glycogen and blood glucose stores are falling, it's helpful in longer races like the half marathon and marathon. There's no natural way to speed its release for shorter races or runs.

Estrogen is best known for its function as a female sex hormone, but like testosterone it's present in both sexes, although at lower levels in men. It facilitates the breakdown of stored fat into fuel.

GAMING THE SYSTEM

We're all familiar with the hormonal misdeeds of Balco, professional baseball and pretty much the entire peloton of the Tour de France. But while we condemn the former as drug cheats, many runners are slower to denounce supplements that claim to act as precursors to hormones -- and which can be found on health food shelves.

"Mostly garbage," says Brown of these supplements. "There is some evidence that you might be able to stimulate GH for maybe four to six weeks. But then the body adapts and shuts off production. And any of these things that say they're going to increase male hormone -- garbage. The only time it works is if they're actually male hormones themselves. Andro [androstenedione] is a hormone. DHEA is a hormone. These aren't supplements."

The competitive spirit drives athletes to seek any natural advantage. But when it comes to hormones, the best approach has a familiar ring.

So while some athletes toss and turn in altitude tents, spike their diets with supplements and cut short distance runs to pump out sets of squats and push-ups, sensible runners should stick with that old mainstay: Eat right, train smart and get a good night's sleep.

In the long run, our bodies know best. And self-regulated hormonal balance -- not hormonal stockpiling -- creates the best environment for cultivating our running lifestyle.

MAXIMUM GROWTH HORMONE

"Picture this," says Tom Cotner, the longtime distance coach for Seattle-based Club Northwest, describing the pituitary gland. "It looks like an elephant's trunk and has a ring of muscles right near the tip, which basically squeezes and growth hormone squirts out."

Cotner explains that growth hormone (GH) is released during delta sleep (our deepest sleep) and when we exercise. The more intense the training we do, the more GH we produce.

But the adaptive response triggered by GH has two stages: first work, then recovery. "You don't get faster on hard days," says Cotner. "You get faster on your recovery days."

According to Cotner, five things can block this multi-day adaptation:

* SLEEP DISTURBANCES -- anything that interrupts delta sleep.

* POOR NUTRITION -- especially insufficient calories.

* TRAUMA -- GH's top priority will shift to any acute injury.

* SICKNESS -- especially involving a fever.

* ALCOHOL -- one beer can block 30 percent of nocturnal GH secretion; two can wipe out 75-80 percent.

On distance runs, GH isn't produced for the first 10 minutes, and after 75 minutes secretion diminishes. To maximize GH production, Cotner suggests two workouts:

* THRESHOLD RUNS -- 8 to 10 miles at 25 seconds slower than threshold pace (what you could race for an hour), then 2 miles at threshold or below.